Roadrunners earn at-large bid to NCAA Central Regional

Courtesy: UTSA AthleticsRelease: 05/01/2013

Courtesy UTSA Athletics

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — UTSA learned Monday night that it is headed to Norman, Okla., for the NCAA Central Regional after receiving the first at-large bid to an NCAA postseason event for any team in school history. The 24-team tournament will be hosted by the University of Oklahoma from May 9-11.

The teams will compete at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club with the top eight squads advancing to the NCAA Championship, which is scheduled to be played from May 21-24 at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Sixteen of golfstat.com’s top 50 will be in the regional, including No. 3 Duke and fourth-ranked Oklahoma.

The Roadrunners will be making their third consecutive NCAA Regional appearance as the No. 18 seed. Facing the 33rd-toughest schedule in the nation, UTSA notched three top-five finishes, including a tie for third at its own Alamo Invitational (Oct. 28-30).

Junior Fabiola Arriaga leads the team with a career-best 74.68 stroke average and the Torreon, Mexico, native has placed in the top 10 four times this season. After finishing tied for sixth at last week’s Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship, Arriaga picked up her third consecutive first-team all-conference honor, while teammates Taylor Newlin and Paola Valerio earned second-team laurels.

Along with UTSA, the WAC is represented by tournament champion and automatic qualifier Denver (No. 11/West), Texas State (No. 13/East) and San Jose State (No. 19/West).

The complete 24-team field, listed in order of seed with golfstat.com rankings in parenthesis, is below.